July 21 ------ Two of the Philippines’ alpha males led the team’s golden haul on a rainy Day Three of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games. World No. 3 EJ Obiena ruled the men’s pole vault while waiting out a heavy downpour while world champion Carlos Yulo bagged the men’s individual all-around, both winning the SEA Games gold for the third straight time.
Obiena topped the pole vault with a leap of 5.65 meters at the Morodok Techo National Stadium, breaking the previous SEA Games record of 5.46 which he himself set in Hanoi a year ago. Yulo scored 84.000 to capture the gold over Vietnamese gymnasts Thanh Tung Le and Phuong Thanh Dinh at the Olympic National Stadium.
Fer Casares, meanwhile, grabbed his second straight SEA Games title in men’s triathlon, Xiandi Chua took the women’s 200-meter backstroke crown for the country's first gold in swimming, and Robin Catalan struck in kun bokator men’s combat bringing the number of gold medals of Team Philippines to 19. The Philippines is now in fifth place in the medal tally, embellishing its collection with 29 silver and 32 bronze medals. Casares snared the gold medal in Kep to somewhat make up for the defeat of Kim Mangrobang, whose bid for a fourth straight triathlon crown came to an end at the hands of Cambodian naturalized athlete Margot Garabedian.
The Philippines ended its swimming duck as Chua clocked two minutes, 13.20 seconds in the women’s 200-meter backstroke, beating compatriot and defending champion Chloe Isleta by nearly three seconds. Catalan defeated Ade Permana of Indonesia in the men’s combat 50kg in kun bokator. Silver medal winners included Ariana Evangelista, who placed second in the mountain bike eliminate, and the women’s team kumite of Jamie Lim, Junna Tsukii, Remon Misu, and Arianne Brito. Angel Gwen Derla, the country’s second gold medalist, claimed a bronze along with Shara Jizmundo and Jessa Dela Cruz.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Bambol Tolentino made that assessment shortly after he left from the team’s training camp in Metz, France. “Mataas ang morale ng mga atleta natin. Nasa peak na sila ng training. Lahat excited na,” said Tolentino in Tuesday’s PSA Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. Almost all of the 22 qualified athletes were already in France as early as late last month, with golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina, and hurdlers Lauren Hoffman and John Cabang expected to complete the athletes’ delegation this week.
Boxers Eumir Marcial, Hergie Bacyadan and Carlo Paalam are training with other nations in Saarbrucken, Germany -- a 30-minute ride from Metz -- while the rest are using the facilities in Metz that POC has arranged. Tolentino said some athletes like gymnastics and boxing are allowed to enter the Athlete’s Village as early as July 20, while the rest, like weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, John Ceniza and Elreen Ando, will enter a bit later depending on their competition schedule and would extend their training in Metz. He also expressed gratitude to the Office of the President,which is giving an additional daily allowance of 100 euros per day for the athletes and coaches who started their training in Metz.
Tolentino is optimistic the country could surpass its previous showing in the previous edition held in Tokyo, Japan three years back where it won one gold, two silver and one bronze medal.
Source: mb.com.ph
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